Civil War

PLAYED on board one (of five) for Battersea against Battersea Galacticos in Central London League Division Two last night.

Spanton (1929) - Tom Farrand (2150)

Maróczy Bind

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 b6!?

This is fourth-most popular in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database, behind 3..d6, 3...a6 and especially 3...Nc6, but it has the best score percentagewise.

4.Nc3 Bb7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 d6!?

This is the commonest continuation in Mega26. but it is disliked by Stockfish17.1 and Dragon1, which suggest 6...Nf6 or 6...Nc6.

7.Be2 Nf6 8.f3 Be7 9.0-0 0-0

Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

White's Maróczy Bind arose from a Sicilian move-order, but equally could have come from the Symmetrical Variation of the English, and is classified as such by ChessBase. The engines give White a slight edge. There are 352 examples of the diagrammed position in Mega26.

10.Be3 a6 11.Qd2 Nbd7 12.Rac1 Rc8 13.Rfd1 Ne5 14.b3 Qc7 15.Na4 Ned7

Black has a classic hedgehog setup

The arrangement of Black's pieces is the one chosen to illustrate the hedgehog in Wikipedia.

16.Nc2!? Rfd8 17.Bd4 Bf8 18.Qe3 Nc5!?

How should White proceed?

*****

*****

*****

*****

*****

19.Nb2

We both thought White could not afford the dark-square weaknesses in his position after 19.Bxf6!?, but the engines marginally prefer that over the text.

19...Ncd7 20.Na4

We looked at 20.b4? in the postmortem, but TF suggested 20...e5 21.Bc3 d5!, which the engines reckon gives Black the upper hand, their main line running 22.exd5 Nxd5 23.cxd5 Qxc3 24.Qxc3 Rxc3. If 20.g4?, then 20...e5 21.Bc3 d5! is even better for Black.

20...Nc5 21.Nb2 Ncd7 22.Na4 ½–½

Battersea Galacticos won the match 3-2.

My Battersea Season 2025-6

Date       Event  Colour  Rating  Opp's Rating  Score  Season's Perf

16/9/25   CLL       W       1936         1952             0           1552

18/9/25   CLL       W       1936         1797             =           1675

16/10/25 CLL       W       1889         2047             0           1665

23/10/25 CLL       B        1889         1823             1           1805

18/11/25  LL         W       1891         1980             =           1840

20/11/25  CLL      W       1891         1866             1            1911

25/11/25  BCC     B        1891         1817             1            1955

9/12/25    LL         W       1904         1982             1            2008

16/12/25  LL         B        1904         2046             0            1968

18/12/25  CLL      B        1904         2066             1            2018

6/1/26      CLL      W       1929         2150             =            2066   

CLL: Central London League

LL: London League

BCC: Battersea club championship

I also have a win-by-default in the Central London League